Ramey Cordeiro’s house is the most conspicuous on his block and that’s just the way he likes it.
His charcoal black behemoth, with its flat roof, flowing turrets, rounded glass corners and fire hall-style garage doors are a contemporary island in a traditional sea.
“I’ve always been a guy that would stand out and be different,” explained the 34-year-old renovation contractor.
Cordeiro designed his house himself, influenced by trips to Miami, Beverly Hills and New York, where flat roofs are common. He brought a lot of roundness to his home in an attempt to break free from the boxiness that characterizes most flat-roofed homes.
“We’re going for a wow factor,” he said.
Located on Oak Point in Oakmont, Cordeiro’s home is one of three flat-roofed homes that stand out in an area where home after home blends in.
“Those homes are not for me. I would never build a peaked home again,” said the bold-talking contractor who’s hoping to team up with his home’s builder to focus on flat-roofed homes.
“I think people just go with what they’re accustomed to. They really don’t know any better because no one’s got an option for them,” Cordeiro said.
He would like to see new neighbourhoods with a mixture of flat and peaked roofs and thinks more people would build flat-roofed homes if developers didn’t put up roadblocks.
“I think they scare off a lot of people and I think that’s why you don’t see a lot of [flat-roofed] houses in St. Albert,” he said.
Kathy Barata and her husband Erin Pasieka knew they wanted a modern home when they built three years ago in Oakmont.
They designed their flat-roofed home themselves with help from an Edmonton design firm then spent a year convincing the developer that the house wouldn’t be an eyesore.
“We were turned down many times but we didn’t quit,” Barata said.
The result — a white, boxy house with large windows and translucent garage doors — exemplifies their preference for clean lines and an aesthetic that doesn’t duplicate other homes on the block.
“We didn’t go into it saying we’ve got to have something that stands out. We just wanted a house that we wanted,” Barata said.
To satisfy the developer’s requirement for a pitched roof, they put in a peaked skylight. They’re glad they made the effort to get what they wanted.
“Every time we walk into the house, it’s a feeling of calm,” Barata said. “I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s a good feeling house.”
Oakmont, like other new neighbourhoods, has architectural controls established by the developer.
Melcor Developments’ architectural guidelines for Oakmont state that homes “should predominantly attempt to integrate into the overall look of the area.”
The guidelines require homes to be of similar mass and scale but not overly repetitive in their design, finish and colour schemes. Roofs must be pitched at a minimum of a 5:12 ratio and the developer has final say in approving colour schemes and settling disputes, the document says.
For people like Barata, who seek a more personalized and diverse approach, the boundaries are puzzling.
“If you go to any nicer neighbourhood in any city, there’s always a mixture of different types of architecture,” she said. “It makes it more interesting. It makes real estate more valuable.”
Cordeiro thinks developers use deliberate scare tactics to deter people from being adventurous in their designs.
“They tried to scare me off by threatening to sue me,” he said.
He and his lawyer found that the only binding caveat was that his fence be the same as his neighbours, he said.
“They had a lot of [guidelines] in place, but the problem was it wasn’t a binding agreement that you had to sign, so at the end of the day it’s just a piece of paper,” he said.
His approach with the developer was much less gingerly than Barata’s.
“I said you got no rights and if you call me again, I’m going to sue you,” he said. “They never called me again.”
There was a time when contemporary styling was common in home design, said Edmonton architect David Murray.
Most of the houses built in the 1950s and 1960s used standardized plans whose styling could be traced back to architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s prairie style, which featured flat or low-pitched roofs and long horizontal lines, Murray said.
The prairie style was one of several movements within modern architecture that influenced residential design throughout the 1900s, he said.
Some St. Albert homes built in the post-war period were influenced by the international style, which tended to be stark and boxy. But the style that became most prevalent in St. Albert was west coast post and beam, marked by exposed wooden rafters that often extended to the exterior and windows that reached right up under the roof, Murray said.
Modern styles were a distinct departure from Victorian styles, which saw homes made to look massive through the use of small windows, brick or stone exteriors, thick cornices and classical detailing, he said.
Designers working in the modern vein tried to make their buildings look like they were treading lightly on the earth, he said. Common features were flat roofs, large windows and the elimination of ornamentation.
“Some architects even felt it was immoral to apply things that didn’t have a function to your building,” Murray said.
By the early 1970s, the general populous began to turn back toward classic features, having lost interest in modern themes.
“I think the public began to feel it was too stark,” Murray said. “I really don’t know why it happened, but people became very interested to live in houses that alluded to the historical past.”
Veteran realtor Jill Thomas, who grew up in South Africa where every home was different, said people here have little appetite for novelty homes.
“Having taken thousands of buyers out over time, I listen to their comments. People want the same; they don’t want different,” she said.
Most people prefer to blend in rather than stand out, Murray agreed, and most like the predictability that comes with architectural controls.
“To my mind that feels a little unnatural but people go for it,” he said. “If you allow someone to do what they want, you never know where they’re going to go. Every now and then you’ll find something that’s outlandish.”
Architecturally, Cordeiro’s home has its roots in art moderne but doesn’t adhere to a particular style, Murray said.
“I think it’s a piece of theatre,” he said.
Some of Cordeiro’s future neighbours aren’t too happy that he circumvented the rules. On a cul-de-sac lined with million dollar homes, his has stirred controversy and the opinions tend to fall into one of two categories: love it or hate it, said one neighbour who didn’t want to be identified.
“I think it more or less detracts from the neighbourhood,” the resident said. “Everybody’s put the same money into their homes and their yards and the first thing that people notice when they come to our house is that black one.”
Cordeiro knows that many neighbours have complained to the developer but thinks people are coming around now that they see what the house will look like.
“People need change,” he said. “People get scared when there’s going to be change but I think at the end of the day that’s one of nicest houses in the neighbourhood.”
